Christophe Lançon

Aix-Marseille University | AMU · Faculté de Médecine

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) a form of exposure treatment that leverages the technology and immersive properties of virtual reality has been used in mental health for several decades with clinical efficacy. Nowadays, several companies propose ready to use virtual environments (VE) for clinicians. However, in practice, therapists or resea...

Schizophrenia is characterized by the most salient medication adherence problems among severe mental disorders, but limited prospective data are available to predict and improve adherence in this population. This investigation aims to identify predictors of medication adherence over a 1-year period in a large national cohort using clustering analys...

Severe mental illness (SMI) patients often have complex health needs, which makes it difficult to access and coordinate their care. This study aimed to develop a computerized adaptive testing (CAT) tool, PREMIUM CAT-ACC, to measure SMI patients' experience with access and care coordination. This multicenter and cross-sectional study included 496 ad...

About 30% of patients with major depressive disorder have treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Recently, intranasal esketamine was approved as a treatment option after the failure of two antidepressant trials. We report a patient with multiresistant depression that was successfully and safely treated with esketamine nasal spray. This 31-year-old i...

Background The care environment significantly influences the experiences of patients with severe mental illness and the quality of their care. While a welcoming and stimulating environment enhances patient satisfaction and health outcomes, psychiatric facilities often prioritize staff workflow over patient needs. Addressing these challenges is cruc...

BACKGROUND The care environment significantly influences the experiences of patients with severe mental illness and the quality of their care. While a welcoming and stimulating environment enhances patient satisfaction and health outcomes, psychiatric facilities often prioritize staff workflow over patient needs. Addressing these challenges is cruc...

Background: Crack consumption is a major public health issue in Martinique with a poor prognosis. A preliminary study has found a high prevalence of history of childhood ADHD (C-ADHD) in crack users. Objective: To determine the prevalence of C-ADHD and adult ADHD (A-ADHD) in crack users and their potential associations with substance use behavio...

Background: Benzodiazepine long-term use (BLTU) is a public health challenge. We lack data on the consequences of LBTU on the trajectory of treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Objective: To determine the prevalence of BLTU in a nationwide non-selected population of patients with TRD, to determine the rate of patients succeeding at withdrawing...

Background: Social metacognition is still poorly understood in schizophrenia, particularly its neuropsychological basis and its impact on insight and medication adherence. We therefore quantified social metacognition as the agreement between objective and subjective mentalization and assessed its correlates in a sample of individuals with schizoph...

Le nombre de consultations pour prise en charge de transidentité a nettement augmenté ces dernières années mais il existe peu de données épidémiologiques à ce jour en France. Patients et méthodes Etude descriptive des personnes transidentitaires ayant consulté et été opérées au centre de prise en charge spécialisé du CHU de Marseille entre 2013 et...

Aims Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) is a major health epidemic of Western countries and patients with schizophrenia is a particularly vulnerable population due to lifestyle, mental illness and treatment factors. However, we lack prospective data to guide prevention. The aim of our study is then to determine MetS incidence and predictors in schizophrenia...

Background Successful interventions have been developed for smoking cessation although the success of smoking relapse prevention protocols has been limited. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in particular has been hampered by a high relapse rate. Because relapse can be due to conditions associated with tobacco consumption (such as drinking in bar...

Parent history of severe mental illness (PHSMI) may have long-term consequences in adult offspring due to genetic and early environmental factors in preliminary studies. To compare the outcomes associated in subjects with PHSMI to those in patients without PHSMI. The participants with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders were recruited in th...

Importance: Reducing the use of coercion in mental health care is crucial from a human rights and public health perspective. Psychiatric advance directives (PADs) are promising tools that may reduce compulsory admissions. Assessments of PADs have included facilitation by health care agents but not facilitation by peer workers. Objective: To dete...

Hypersexuality and paraphilic disorders have been associated with increased ADHD in several studies. To determine the prevalence of ADHD in hypersexuality and paraphilic disorders. Three databases (Medline, Web of Science and Google Scholar) were explored. Using random effects models, we calculated the pooled estimate of ADHD prevalence. The leave-...

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends adults complete 150-300 min per week of moderate physical activity or 75-150 min of vigorous physical activity or an equivalent combination of both, to optimize health. To explore the factors associated with adequate MVPA in stabilized outpatients with schizophrenia. 425 stabilized outpatients were rec...

Most patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) are paper-based, leading to a high burden for patients and care providers. The aim of this study was to (1) calibrate an item bank to measure patients’ experience of respect and dignity for adult patients with serious mental illnesses and (2) develop computerized adaptive testing (CAT) to improve th...

Among severe psychiatric disorders, schizophrenia has one of the highest impacts on professional and personal functioning with important indirect costs including disability pension allowance for the patients with the more severe forms of schizophrenia. To explore early-life factors associated with disability pension in schizophrenia. 916 patients w...

Background Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a highly prevalent and harmful medical disorder often comorbid with psychosis where it can contribute to cardiovascular complications. As immune dysfunction is a key shared component of both MetS and schizophrenia (SZ), this study investigated the relationship between immune alterations and MetS in patients w...

PurposePeripheral inflammation is frequent in schizophrenia and could play a role in the pathophysiology, prognosis, and persistence of psychotic symptomatology under treatment. We seek to determine the relationship between peripheral inflammation and brain SPECT perfusion in stabilized antipsychotic-treated outpatients with schizophrenia, and to d...

The S-QoL 18 is a self-administered questionnaire that assesses quality of life (QoL) among individuals with schizophrenia. This study aims to validate the S-QoL 18 in bipolar and depressive disorders for a more widespread use in psychiatric settings. This study was conducted in a non-selected sample of individuals with bipolar and depressive disor...

Due to COVID-19 pandemic, different restrictive measures in terms of physical distancing and lockdowns have been introduced in most European countries, affecting all facets of social life. Currently, little is known about how partnered individuals perceive changes in their sexual life during this complex emergency. This study explored retrospective...

Aims Avolition defined as a lack of interest or engagement in goal-directed behavior plays a key role in everyday functioning in schizophrenia and is considered as one of the main contributors to the burden of disease. The aim of this study was to 1) validate the self-report BIRT Motivation Questionnaire (BMQ-S) seldom used before in schizophrenia...

Introduction Deficits in theory of mind (ToM) can vary depending on the predominant schizophrenia symptoms, and though most neurocognitive functions are involved in ToM, all may not be associated with the same symptoms. With consideration to the relationships between symptoms, neurocognition and ToM, the aim of the present study is to identify the...

Schizophrenia is marked by inequities in cancer treatment and associated with high smoking rates. Lung cancer patients with schizophrenia may thus be at risk of receiving poorer end-of-life care compared to those without mental disorder. The objective was to compare end-of-life care delivered to patients with schizophrenia and lung cancer with pati...

The interest in social cognition in schizophrenia is justified by the relationship between deficits in these skills and negative functional outcomes. Although assessment batteries have already been described, there is no consensus about which measures are useful in predicting patient functioning or quality of life (QoL). We investigated a set of fi...

Background: Fasting interventions have shown effectiveness in alleviating stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms. However, no quantitative analysis has been carried out thus far. The objective was to determine the effectiveness of fasting interventions on stress, anxiety and depression and if these interventions were associated with increased or...

Background Tobacco smoking has been associated with suicide, impulsivity and depression in non-clinical populations with differences across sexes. Objective To determine the role of tobacco smoking in Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD) according to sex in a precision-medicine approach. Method The FACE-TRD cohort is a national cohort of TRD pati...

Recovery is a multidimensional construct that can be defined either from a clinical perspective or from a consumer-focused one, as a self-broadening process aimed at living a meaningful life beyond mental illness. We aimed to longitudinally examine the overlap and mutual distinctions between clinical and personal recovery. Of 1239 people with schiz...

Context Burnout is an international phenomenon defined as a state of professional exhaustion. It can lead to depression and have major economic and organizational impacts. Previous studies of healthcare professionals in France have focused on physicians, but none to date have explored other healthcare professions. Objectives The main objective of...

Despite clues indicating high Bullying at the Work Place (BWP) rates in French hospitals, there has been no quantitative study so far. To determine the prevalence of repeated BWP in a national sample of French young physicians; its risk factors, and the mental health consequences of BWP. The study is a cross-sectional observational epidemiological...

The aim of our study was to compare the performance of three different instruments measuring clinical and cognitive dimensions of insight. Data on 182 outpatients with schizophrenia and one-year follow-up assessments was drawn from the FACE-SZ cohort. Awareness of clinical state (« clinical insight ») was measured using both a clinician-rated measu...

Background Existing studies evaluating the association between schizophrenia and complications associated with pregnancy, delivery and neonatal outcomes are based on data prior to 2014 and have reported heterogeneous results. The objective of our study was to determine whether pregnant women with schizophrenia were at increased risk of pregnancy, d...

Background It remains unknown whether coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with bipolar disorders (BDs) are at an increased risk of mortality. We aimed to establish whether health outcomes and care differed between patients infected with COVID-19 with BD and patients without a diagnosis of severe mental illness. Methods We conducted a popu...

France has been identified with one of the highest rates of hazardous drinking and hypnotic consumption in Western countries. Medical students have been identified at risk for hazardous drinking yet we lacked of national data on their hypnotic consumption and associated factors to guide public health policies. To determine the prevalence of hazardo...

France has been identified with one of the highest rates of cannabis consumption of Western European countries. Yet we lack data in medical students who are at risk of addictive behavior. The objective of the study is to determine the prevalence of cannabis consumption and cannabis use disorder (CUD) among French medical students and their associat...

Importance Heterogeneous evidence exists for the association between COVID-19 and the clinical outcomes of patients with mental health disorders. It remains unknown whether patients with COVID-19 and mental health disorders are at increased risk of mortality and should thus be targeted as a high-risk population for severe forms of COVID-19. Object...

Aims Negative and Positive urgency are emotion-related impulsivity traits that are thought to be transdiagnostic factors in psychopathology. However, it has recently been claimed that these two traits are closely related to each other and that considering them separately might have limited conceptual and methodological value. The present study aime...

Little is known on the end-of-life (EOL) care of terminal breast cancer in women with severe psychiatric disorder (SPD). The objective was to determine if women with SPD and terminal breast cancer received the same palliative and high-intensity care during their end-of-life than women without SPD. Study design, setting, participants . This populati...

Treatment resistant schizophrenia (TRS) affects around 30% of patients with schizophrenia resulting in poor functioning, relapses and reduced quality of life. Convergent findings show that inflammation could contribute to resistance. We thus search for immune signatures of patients with TRS/UTRS in a sample of community-dwelling outpatients with sc...

Purpose. Peripheral inflammation is frequent in schizophrenia, and plays a major role in pathophysiology, prognosis, and persistence of psychotic symptomatology under treatment. Aim. To determine the correlation between peripheral inflammation and brain SPECT perfusion in stabilized antipsychotic-treated outpatients with schizophrenia, and to dete...

Introduction We assessed the correlation between childhood maltreatment (CM) and severity of depression in an elderly unipolar Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD) sample. Methods Patients were enrolled from a longitudinal cohort (FACE-DR) of the French Network of Expert TRD Centres. Results Our sample included 96 patients (33% of the overall coh...

Background People suffering from schizophrenia cannot easily access employment in European countries. Different types of vocational programs coexist in France: supported employment, sheltered employment (ShE), and hybrid vocational programs. It is now acknowledged that the frequent cognitive impairments constitute a major obstacle to employment for...

Background and aims: Few studies have been conducted on the long-term evolution of gambling disorder (GD). The aim of this study was to identify factors that could predict GD relapse. Methods: Data were part of a dataset from a large 5-year cohort of gamblers who were assessed at inclusion and each year thereafter. Participants were recruited fr...

Background Physicians are at risk of anxiety and depression. Objectives To determine the prevalence of anxiety and depression in a national sample of young physicians and their associated factors. Methods The study is a cross-sectional observational epidemiological national study. An online anonymous questionnaire was administered to the young ph...

Background Peripheral inflammation is associated with impaired prognosis in schizophrenia (SZ). Highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is the most used inflammatory biomarker in daily practice. However, no consensual cut-off has been determined to date to discriminate patients with peripheral inflammation from those without. Aims To determin...

Purpose. Peripheral inflammation is frequent in schizophrenia, and plays a major role in pathophysiology, prognosis, and persistence of psychotic symptomatology under treatment. Aim. To determine the correlation between peripheral inflammation and brain SPECT perfusion in stabilized antipsychotic-treated outpatients with schizophrenia, and to dete...

Psychiatric patients are at risk of hypovitaminosis D and Covid-19-related mortality. In addition to the mental health benefits, vitamin D supplementation may be potentially effective in preventing severe forms of Covid-19 infections. Vitamin D supplementation is not necessary and is not reimbursed in France for this indication. A monthly supplemen...

Background: The objective of this study was to develop a conceptual framework to define a domain map describing the experience of patients with severe mental illnesses (SMIs) on the quality of mental health care. Methods: This study used an exploratory qualitative approach to examine the subjective experience of adult patients (18–65 years old) wit...

Background While psychotic remission in schizophrenia (SZ) has been defined by consensus and associated with a rank of clinical predictive factors, there is a lack of data of factors associated with functional remission. Objectives To identify clinical and biological factors associated with impaired functional remission in a non-selected chronic s...

Background Sleep disorders associated factors are under explored in schizophrenia while the literature suggests high and heterogeneous frequency. Aims The objective of the present study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of sleep disorders in the real-world FACE-SZ national cohort. Method Stabilized schizophrenic outpatients were re...

Patients with schizophrenia represent a vulnerable population who have been understudied in COVID-19 research. We aimed to establish whether health outcomes and care differed between patients with schizophrenia and patients without a diagnosis of severe mental illness. We conducted a population-based cohort study of all patients with identified COV...

Background We recently reported an improvement of precuneus PET metabolism after EMDR therapy in military participants suffering from PTSD. Objective The aim of the present study was to investigate the metabolic changes of precuneus connectivity in these participants after such treatment. Method Fifteen participants with PTSD performed a brain 18...

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is among the most common psychiatric disorders. One-third of patients are usually unresponsive to several lines of treatment. This study aimed to describe the FondaMental French cohort of patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and to estimate utility and healthcare resource use outcomes. Met...

Objective In addition to heredity, exposure to early-life adversity is an important predisposing risk factor of suicidal behaviour. Although the association between Childhood Trauma (CT) and suicide risk is well documented, interactions between CT and suicidal behaviour in Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD) populations have received little covera...

Comorbid major depressive disorder (MDD) in schizophrenia (SZ; SZ-MDD) has been identified as a major prognostic factor. However, the prevalence and associated factors of SZ-MDD have never been explored in a meta-analysis. All studies assessing the prevalence of SZ-MDD in stabilized outpatients with a standardized scale or with structured interview...

Background There is growing concern about measuring patient experience with mental health care. There are currently numerous patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) available for mental health care, but there is little guidance for selecting the most suitable instruments. The objective of this systematic review was to provide an overview of th...

Patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) represent a vulnerable population who have been understudied in COVID-19 research. We aimed to establish whether health outcomes and care differed between patients with SCZ and patients without a diagnosis of severe mental illness. We conducted a population-based cohort study of all patients with identified COVID-1...

Background: Brain SPECT perfusion and PET metabolism have been, most often interchangeably, proposed to study the underlying pathological process in major depressive disorder (MDD). The objective of this study was to specify similarities and inconsistencies between these two biomarkers according to global characteristics of the disease. We conduct...

Background: The determinants of quality of life (QoL) in schizophrenia are largely debated, mainly due to methodological discrepancies and divergence about the concepts concerned. As most studies have investigated bi- or tri-variate models, a multivariate model accounting for simultaneous potential mediations is necessary to have a comprehensive v...

Background: Hospital professional violence is defined as hostile and aggressive behavior exerted by health professionals on other health professionals. No quantitative study has been carried out to date on French hospital professional violence among young physicians, while recent qualitative studies have suggested a potential high frequency. The m...

Research treatment protocols are rare regarding an unusual anxiety disorder, namely the fear of sharks (squalophobia). As a possible solution, the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy for this phobia was tested. The advantage of using VR becomes clearer when a real life set up is impractical, such as exposing a phobic patient to a...

Objective: To describe end-of-life (EOL) care in individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) who died from cancer compared to mentally healthy individuals. Methods: This was a nationwide cohort study of all adult individuals who died from cancer in hospitals in France between 2013 and 2016. Outcomes were compared between individuals with BD versus me...

Background As almost all mental disorders are associated with increased suicidal‐related behavior, anhedonia might be a trans‐diagnostic dimension to target for suicide prevention. Methods For this 3‐year‐long prospective study, 2,839 outpatients with mood disorders were recruited. They were divided in: (a) two groups according to the occurrence o...

Background: There is limited information describing the presenting characteristics and outcomes of patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) requiring hospitalization for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Aims: We aimed to compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 SCZ patients with those of non-SCZ patients. Method: This was a case-c...